Lotto games are contests in which a series of single or double digit numbers are preselected. These numbers are then printed on lotto tickets prior to drawing.
While there are numerous variations of lotto tickets depending on the game, generally these tickets have the preselected numbers arranged one after the other in consecutive lines.
Problems are presented to the players of such games when they attempt to check each entry in that the participant has to follow the winning number across the columns to verify that he has a winning combination.
In order to aid the participants in this laborious chore, a lotto contest number checking device was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,198 issued to Fox. In Fox, a device is provided that has six or seven tapes each of which correspond to a two digit number. At the top of that device a series of windows are formed in a line each window being aligned with a particular tape. The tapes are rotated to place the winning combination in the windows where they may be conveniently viewed by the participant. The device may then be placed directly on the ticket for comparison purposes.
While being useful for its purposes, such a device has several moving mechanical parts to move and position the tapes for displaying the winning combination. This greatly increases the cost and complexity of such devices, a serious drawback in that such devices, by their very nature, should be as simple and inexpensive as possible. Also, such mechanical elements are readily subject to wear and tear, further increasing the potential costs associated with use of the device. Finally, such a device offers the user nothing in the way of improving the visibility the numbers printed on the lotto ticket.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,704,938 issued to Funselow, discloses a punch card viewer which includes a magnifying glass for aiding in the viewing of numbers on a punch card which are passed underneath. However, despite its longstanding existence, its principles have never been utilized for viewing the numbers on a lottery ticket. Further, it is noted that there is nothing provided which permits the number being viewed to be compared to the winning number and that if there was, the movement of the lotto card through the magnifying glass would obstruct it.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 488,411 issued to Wyman discloses a slate attachment for aiding spelling. In this device, the letters are arranged on eleven different tapes for displaying a desired word. In this respect, Wyman suffers from the same drawbacks relative to costs and wear and tear as those of Fox '198 noted above. A blackboard or slate is provided so that the user may attempt to write the desired word thereon. However, like the use of movable tapes, the provision of a blackboard adds weight and cost to the device.
Thus, it can be seen that there remains a need for a device for aiding in the reading or viewing of the numbers printed on a lotto ticket and for comparing the viewed number with the winning combination. There further remains a need for such a device that is simple in construction and use and which is inexpensive to fabricate.